We are writing to ask for your urgent intervention to allow illegally detained Sheikh Zakzaky and his wife leave Nigeria for urgent medical treatment due to their critically deteriorating life threatening medical conditions.
15 April 2018 marks 100 continuous days of demonstrations in Nigeria demanding medical treatment for the life threatening medical condition of Sheikh Zakzaky.

The Sheikh’s personal doctor confirmed in his most recent report that his only remaining eye is in danger due to chronic glaucoma and recommended him to be taken abroad for urgent treatment by a specialist, this specialist treatment is not available in any of the Nigerian hospitals.

We are extremely concerned as Sheikh Zakzaky suffered a stroke in early January and his condition has further deteriorated due to continued unlawful detention preventing him from receiving proper medical treatment. He was shot several times more than two years ago, resulting in the loss of his left eye, and is currently at a great risk of losing the other eye.

We urge your office to play an active role and make known in unconditional terms that the Nigerian Government will be held directly responsible if anything happens to the Sheikh or his wife and due to the seriousness and urgency of the situation I demand that the Commonwealth secretariat takes the following actions;

1. Send a representative to Nigeria to see Mu’allim Zakzaky, his family and other detainees to assess their
situation and intervene to allow specialist medical treatment outside Nigeria.
2. Suspend Nigeria’s membership of the Commonwealth for the violence perpetrated by its army against the IMN;
3. Demand the release of those held after mass arrests or being handed over to civilian police authorities;
4. Demand the Nigerian government provide proper and immediate medical attention to all detainees and that all are
released;
5. Call for an independent investigation, under the auspices of an international body like the UN, into the
violence and mass graves. The bodies of those in the mass graves need to be exhumed, identified and returned to
their families. The Nigerian government and army needs to be held accountable for these crimes.